1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile communication system and more particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for providing an authorization based Enhanced Address Book (EAB) service in the mobile communication system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Enhanced Address Book (EAB) service allows users accessing a communication network to share information updated by the users. For example, the EAB service includes user status display in an instant messenger commonly used today, and profile information sharing in Social Network Services (SNSs) such as Facebook® and Twitter®.
For the EAB service, when information of a particular user is changed, a system should provide the changed information to other users who can share the information of the particular user, by utilizing a presence server. For example, Rich Communication Suite (RCS) technology standardized by the Global System for Mobile communication Association (GSMA) provides the EAB service using the presence server. The presence server manages a contact list of the users. Accordingly, upon recognizing the information change of the particular user, the presence server can provide the changed information to other users using an event. In other words, the presence server can identify other users who can share the information of the particular user, using the contact list, and then provide the changed information to the other users.
As discussed above, the method based on the presence server clarifies the process by rapidly reflecting the changed information. However, as the number of users increases, the computation of the presence server increases, resulting in an increased load of the presence server, along with an increased error rate in the computation. Hence, a solution for addressing the disadvantages of the presence server is needed.